A Fete worse than death!

This is a play of two halves .The first half depends on the gentle comic interactions as we meet the leading organisers of the village fete at Thornton, while in the second half it becomes a murder mystery as the VIP guest Ray Martin tries to solve the case before the police arrive. This provides good opportunities for the cast of Wraysbury Players to show off both their comic timing and their serious acting skills as the characters are interrogated. After the Covid hiatus of over two years, there was a sense that it took time for them to get into their full stride in the play and the second half worked much better than the first. 

The setting was excellent creating a sense that the audience were seated at tables within the tent that the produce competition would take place in with a realistic half marquee on stage and an attractive pastel coloured village green back cloth behind. There was good props to dress the setting with a bookcase and trays of Jams and pickles, attractive floral displays, and an excellent box of home-grown vegetables. 

Unusually the cast of seven were self-directed and the result was generally good blocking and use of the stage but perhaps the comic pacing could have been tighter in the first act.This is play that really takes off and engages the audience in the second half as the mystery of the murder we have witnessed is cleverly explained  and as the central performances of Ray Martin and Violet Parmenter take control of the pace and flow. The cast did very well in reacting to each twist and turn as more was revealed.

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